e-Readers, e-Books, e-Papers:
2009/2010 break through or not?
PRINTING FUTURE DAYS 2009
Chemnitz University of Technology
Germany, november 5th 2009
by Peter LUIT
LUIT Consultancy
peter@luit.nl
Twitter: @peterluit

What are we gonna talk about?

Just to be clear about some things first
• eReaders: specific reading devices or software to read content on various
devices like smartphones, netbooks and also laptops and desktops
• eBooks: a file which contains the content of a book
• ePapers: a file which contains the content of a newspaper or magazine
• eInk: the core reading technoloy of most eReader devices

eInk Core technology a different reading experience

The market of devices, content, business
models, distribution channels and standards
is highly confused

Early 90’s and beyond changing reading experience

Explosion of devices in late 2009

?
Explosion of devices in late 2009

How to compare? too many specifications

Explosion of ‘shops’ books starting to ‘sell’ for FREE

Do we really care about the reading
technology behind all those devices?

We do read books on (small) LCD backlight screens

The challenge to combine LCD, touchscreen and
eInk in one!

So, what will Apple do?

Do we really care about the file formats and
digital rights management (DRM) used for
displaying the content?

EPUB, the way to go? reflowable content on all?

EPUB, not always perfect yet, not a one-button thing
EPUB, the way to go? reflowable content on all?

Amazon does things
Battle around EPUB support
differently.....

What will Adobe do? Reflowable PDF and EPUB

What about Digital Rights Management?
• DRM 0 - no protection
• DRM 1 - just a password
• DRM 2 - Individual name on every page
• DRM 3 - Device dependent code
in the end every DRM scheme will be broken

Google and EPUB Google Books

Do we really care about connectivity, on-line
stores, audiobooks etc.?

How to connect (consider when buying a device)
• USB connection
• Bluetooth
• Memory cards
• WIFI
• UMTS/3G
• MP3
• Built in Store/browser

Do we really care about the businessmodel
behind eBooks/ePapers - as long as it is
FREE?

The long-tail in books: FREE - PRINT - eBOOK
• what x €0,00? (how to make money from
other sources - say advertisments?)
• 1000 x €9,99 or
• 300 x €33,99

So, what will Google do?
deal Google Coolerbooks.com: 1 million free titles

Barnes & Noble’s Nook the next player in the ‘EPUB’
field?

Dutch market printed e-book
2009
consumer books 585 M€’s 2 M€’s
study books 356 M€’s 1 M€’s
total 941 M€’s 3 M€’s
Source: PriceWaterhouseCoopers: Entertainment & Media Outlook towards 2013
Business models 2009

Dutch market printed e-book
2013
consumer books 635 M€’s 8 M€’s
(+8,5%) (+400%)
study books 354 M€’s 19 M€’s
(-0,5%) (+1900%)
total 989 M€’s 27 M€’s
(+5%) (+900%)
Source: PriceWaterhouseCoopers: Entertainment & Media Outlook towards 2013
Business models 2013

Gutenberg.org FREE and legal

Feedbooks.com FREE and legal

Dbnl.org FREE and legal

Google EPUB without DRM

Google against Amazon Format war?

Amazon against Google Google Books Settlement

Google Books Settlement..........
• Google is willing to pay 63% of US online ebook sales to US authors
• The American Ministry of Justice does however advice the judge not to do
this
• The European Commity is still investigating this issue, in the mean while
Google does not heavily promote Google Books in Europe yet
• to be continued.......

New players to come.... Barnes & Noble supports EPUB

Frankfurter Book Fair
• who will be in charge?
• publishers: 7%
• consumers: 22%
• amazon: 21%
• google: 20%
• telcos: 13%
• authors: 2%

Frankfurter Book Fair
• most important challenges
• copyright: 28%
• drm: 22%
• standards (EPUB, reflowable PDF): 21%
• price: 16%

So, will it start to happen this year?
• ‘Tools’ market is growing very rapidly
• ‘Content’ market moves into free and paid directions (long-tail included)
• resulting in numerous businessmodels (don’t compare this market too
easy with the Music market)
• Do we really agree on one (DRM free) standard? That might become EPUB
• What do we want to pay for the eReader hardware? Between €150-€250
• Europe cannot be compared to US/UK market developments

And finally, anything left for printers?
• making EPUB files for new originals
• not as easy as it looks using Adobe InDesign, XML knowledge needed
• scanning paper books
• Treventus scans 1200 pages/hour tot XML

e-Readers, e-Books, e-Papers:
2009/2010 break through or not?
thank you for listening, for viewing/downloading the slides, visit:
http://www.luit.nl
http://www.slideshare.net/peterluit
peter@luit.nl
Twitter: @peterluit